Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the University's bond rating to the investment grade of Baa3 from Ba1, a move, according to University President Walter Harrison, that reflects "Wall Street's view that we are a university on the move."

Terming the University's financial outlook "stable," Moody's cited four reasons for the upgrade: likelihood of continued, balanced financial operations, supported by conservative budget practices; improvement in student-market position and stabilization of tuition discounting; gradual growth in financial resources from current levels; and moderate reliance on debt in future capital plans.

"A new financial management team has revamped budgeting practices, instituting very conservative expense budgeting and strong controls, leading to three consecutive years of balanced operations," noted the Moody's report. "As a result of this commitment to fiscal discipline, as well as the comparatively robust market position [of the institution], the University now has a much greater capacity to make expense adjustments if it enters another period where revenues fall behind projections," the report said.

Moody's had lowered the University's bond rating in January 1997. The University's financial position had been negatively affected by the economic recession of the early 1990s and by demographic declines in the college-age population. In addition, the University's endowment was not at the level of other, older institutions of higher education that were better able to weather the economic recession.

The University has begun a 10-year, $175 million Campaign of Commitment. Now in its fourth year, the campaign has generated more than $54 million in gifts and donations.

The report also noted that "the University enjoys an improving market position for full-time undergraduates, albeit in a highly competitive market environment." Moody's said that undergraduate selectivity at the University is at its strongest level in recent years, and that the recent accreditation of the Barney School of Business by AACSB - The International Association for Management Education should enhance the profile of the undergraduate and graduate business programs at the University.

Barney Accreditation
Faculty, staff, and students of the Barney School of Business have much to celebrate this year, as the School joins the elite group of 398 programs accredited by the AACSB.

Of the 398 accredited programs, 385 are in North America, seven in Europe, three in Asia, one in Central America, and two in South America. There are more than 2,000 higher education business schools in the United States.

Official announcement of AACSB's accreditation of Barney's undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration, taxation, accounting, and health-care administration was made in December.

An excited Barney Dean Corine T. Norgaard attributed the accreditation success to "the many changes we made..., such as developing an undergraduate curriculum with a 'career-ready' focus, participating in an ongoing assessment program that includes national programs that test our seniors' subject-matter knowledge and measure their satisfaction, and raising admission standards for our graduate programs."

The not-for-profit AACSB is made up of more than 800 educational organizations and corporations. Its mission is excellence in management education in colleges and universities. Headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., AACSB is the premier accrediting agency and service organization for business schools.

"Earning AACSB accreditation is a testament to the quality of the Barney School's programs, faculty, and students," said President Harrison. "This designation is a strong marker of the distinctiveness of the University of Hartford."